UK government borrowing falls in May as recovery helps tax take

According to the report from Office for National Statistics, public sector net borrowing in the UK was estimated to have been GBP 24.3 billion in May 2021, GBP 19.4 billion less than in May 2020 and compared with market expectations of GBP 26.1 billion. Still, this was the second-highest May borrowing since monthly records began in 1993, as the coronavirus pandemic has had a substantial impact on the economy and subsequently on public sector borrowing and debt. 

Provisional May 2021 estimates of central government receipts were £56.9 billion, £7.5 billion more than in May 2020, while central government bodies spent £81.8 billion, £10.9 billion less than in May 2020.

Public sector net borrowing (PSNB ex) was estimated to have been £53.4 billion in the financial year-to-May 2021; this was the second-highest financial year-to-May borrowing since monthly records began in 1993, £37.7 billion less than in the same period last year.

Public sector net borrowing (PSNB ex) in the financial year ending (FYE) March 2021 was estimated to have been £299.2 billion, revised down by £1.1 billion from last month’s provisional estimate, but remains the highest borrowing since financial year records began in FYE March 1946.

Expressed as a ratio of gross domestic product (GDP), public sector net borrowing (PSNB ex) in FYE March 2021 was 14.3%, the highest such ratio since the end of World War Two, when it was 15.2% in FYE March 1946.